Are there much differences between the quality of fuels (regular unleaded) between the 4 major companies? Do you guys have a preference? When I bought my new car back in 2003, I used to always run it on Shell unleaded, because I heard it was the best fuel at the time. Now I mix between Caltex and Shell depending on which discount voucher is due to expire.

No. Stick to those 4 specialist retailers for the best results. Avoid 7eleven and other indian-operated* servo fuel because it comes from the cheapest wholesaler at the time and is often sub-standard aging fuel often with contaminants and bulking agents mixed in.

I've always found BP Ultimate the best hi-per fuel around and also found it had the best efficiency in a 6cyl ecotec commodore, watch out for the shell vpower 100 octane because it can make your engine run real hot (particularly extractors/turbo[s]- I found that out the hard way in a V6 turbo AWD prelude. But then I probably should have laid off the +15 octane booster).

BP ultimate diesel is a waste of money. I myself with the BT-50 notice no difference whatsoever but is of course a beast to begin with (I'm sure some people swear by it).

*Indian people know they are tight-ass cheapskates that cut corners to increase profit- they'll admit it too (yes I do have a few Indian mates)!

In conclusion, in my opinion, any of those for suppliers are fine. I generally use Mobil now because they're the cheapest in my area. I NEVER use 7eleven fuel.

boronia wrote:If you live in Melbourne, I bet your favourite BP product doesn't come from Perth or Brisbane. You get Shell or Mobil, with maybe a bit of BP's "11 herbs and spices" thrown into the mix.

BP Ultimate is shipped over from WA. The rest of their fuel is likely to be from the local refinery.

I drive a 99 Camry and religiously use Mobil 6000 (Unleaded 95/96). My average fuel consumption is around 9.5-10L/100km (70% suburban, 20% freeway and 10% stop-start city) and it runs much smoother than when running Regular..

I have been told to avoid supermarket chain and convenience store fuel.

Only after wednesday? Up here, Its on average 15c/L more expensive. I think its the evil corporations trying to get more money, as each tank goes further than Petrol. Did anyone notice that after all the things in the news about "Swap to LPG, Its cheaper", the prices rose from about 15-20c/L, to above 55c/L, all within 1 month of the stuff in the news?

TP 3000 wrote:To blow all of that out of the water. But in Canberra our petrol is brought in by train to a Shell depot. The Shell petrol station 2 doors down is the same price as a Shell 25k's away.

I notice with the ACT petrol prices are pretty much similar to Sydney's petrol prices most days of the week but anywhere in between Campbelltown & Exhibition Park petrol is about 8 cents more, I would say petrol maybe subsidised in the ACT

C130 wrote:Only after wednesday? Up here, Its on average 15c/L more expensive. I think its the evil corporations trying to get more money, as each tank goes further than Petrol. Did anyone notice that after all the things in the news about "Swap to LPG, Its cheaper", the prices rose from about 15-20c/L, to above 55c/L, all within 1 month of the stuff in the news?

People can stop using petrol, diesel, because of industry, will always be a necessity and demand for it won't fluctuate much. Oil companies know that and exploit it. Plus, diesel is made from heavy crude oil which Australia doesn't produce so it's more subjective to the US oil price which is generally much higher than Singapore's. It's more the fact that the petrol changes dramatically from tuesday to wednesday that the difference increases. But yes, even I (20yo) remember petrol in SEQ for 55-60cpl, I remember when they said "it'll never go over $1per litre" now late last year it was "oh, it'll never go over $2per litre"... There for a while, it was cheaper to buy coke than diesel from a servo

Why can't Saudi Arabia open a Petrol Station here? They get petrol for 1c a litre. Also if we weren't on the International Market petrol would be just under 90c a litre & petrol isn't subsidized in ACT.

Caltex is the worst for shoving prices up though. With the others quickly following. I want the WA system nation wide, but the bitching opposition won't let it threw.

TP 3000 wrote:Also Toyota have said that their engines can't use E10 & I have noticed that. In the city I can do 150k's on a 1/4 tank or so-that is driving along bus routes with stopping & starting.

See below extract from Toyota website, I have bolded vehicles that are not compatible. I once asked the local Toyota dealer on their thoughts about E10 and was strongly advised not to use it and to stick to premium unleaded (the 1MZ-FE engine in the 1999 Camry is prone to pinging on ULP91).

Toyota FAQs wrote:TOYOTA (Passenger Models)

Locally produced Toyota models will operate satisfactorily on petrol fuel blended with 10% ethanol (E10) from the following production dates:

Eratik wrote:By chance, I found out recently that Shell V-Power and BP Ultimate infact come from the same refinery. While I tend to use BP Ultimate....it does make you wonder if there is any difference at all.

I know someone at BP who works in distribution and they are pretty adamant BP Ultimate comes from their refinery in WA. The Yarraville Mobil terminal in Melbourne is actually a shared operation between Mobil and BP, therefore their other products are most likely produced by Mobil at Altona and to less an extent, Shell at Corio.

When operating in the 70's & 80's I found that I could tell the difference between Shell and Caltex Diesel.Caltex would froth-up but the Shell did not.I could tell the operator at the old Shell at Kellyville whose fuel he had in his tanks. GM